** Hong Kong-listed shares of Chinese e-commerce firm JD.com Inc rise as much as 3.6% to HK$333.60, their highest since March 22, on course for a fifth straight session of gains
** Stock on track for the best day since March 11; the fourth-biggest percentage gainer in Hang Seng China enterprises index
** JD.com said it plans to transfer JD Cloud and artificial intelligence business to its financial technology unit, JD Digits, for a combined valuation of 15.7 bln yuan ($2.40 bln). The deal will take JD.com's stake in the unit to about 42%
** Brokerage Daiwa maintains "buy" on the stock, saying it believes offloading the cloud and AI businesses will unlock the value of JD group while providing an additional valuation boost for JD's shareholding in JD Digits
** The Hong Kong Hang Seng sub-index tracking information technology firms gains 0.4%, and the Hang Seng Tech Index rises 3.4%
** The Hang Seng China enterprises index rises 1.3%, and the benchmark index climbs 1.1%
** As of last close, Hong Kong-listed shares down 5.9% this year
(Reuters Messaging: donny.kwok.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net)
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